John Ramsey, who worked for social justice and care of those in need, died July 16, 2017, of heart failure at age 70.
Ramsey graduated from UCLA in 1971. He then earned a master’s degree from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School in 1973. As assistant administrative director of the Manhattan Bowery Project, he worked to provide temporary housing to recovering alcoholics, plus medical and non-medical detoxification. At St. James Episcopal Church in Manhattan, he worked with other churches laying the groundwork for what became the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter.
In 1979, Ramsey joined the Kaiser Family Foundation in California to head up its first community-grants program. This started his career as a philanthropy executive. In 1983 he became a program director at the Boston Foundation. There, he contributed to the passage of Massachusetts’ universal health care law.
From 1992 to 2001, Ramsey helped shape life in San Diego and Houston by successfully serving as executive director of those cities’ community foundations. In 1998, he suffered a series of strokes that altered his life. But he continued with newfound dedication to victims of chronic debilitating illness.
Ramsey was married three times, with his last wife predeceasing him in 2015. He is survived by three children.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.